Neuss

Quirinus-Münster, the Obertor and an afternoon at Insel Hombroich

Neuss and its art landscape fill a day. Spend the morning in the old town at the Quirinus-Münster, the Obertor gate from around 1200 and the Clemens-Sels-Museum, then head out to the Museum Insel Hombroich and the Langen Foundation at the former missile base for the afternoon. Allow two to three hours there.

Begin on the Münsterplatz, where the Quirinus-Münster rises over the old town. The 13th-century church mixes late Romanesque solidity with a later dome and holds the relics of St Quirinus, the town's patron. Have breakfast under its walls, then walk south through the shopping streets to the Obertor, built around 1200 and the last of six medieval gates. The Clemens-Sels-Museum next to it covers Roman Novaesium and the town's art collections.

Stop on the way back at the Blutturm, a fragment of the old walls, and take a coffee in the city's oldest half-timbered house on Michaelstraße.

After lunch, head out to the Museum Insel Hombroich, a park of meadows, ponds and tree-lined paths along the river Erft with brick pavilions holding a collection that ranges from Asian antiquities to modern art. There are no labels; you are meant to look. Allow two to three hours.

Nearby, the Langen Foundation stands on the Raketenstation Hombroich, a former NATO missile site. Tadao Ando's long concrete building wrapped in glass shows 20th-century painting and Japanese art, and the setting among old earth bunkers is half the experience.

Back in town, end the evening at the Globe Neuss by the racecourse if the Shakespeare Festival is running, or on tram 709 into Düsseldorf's old town.

Altbier, Rhenish mussels and the döner triangle

Neuss drinks dark Altbier from small glasses and eats Rhineland pub food. Order Muscheln rheinische Art in the months with an R, Himmel un Äd or pork knuckle with sauerkraut. Take breakfast and cake around the Münsterplatz and Michaelstraße, and late at night join the crowd at the döner triangle by the old bus station.

Neuss sits in Altbier country, on the Düsseldorf side of the beer border that runs through the Rhineland. The dark, hoppy top-fermented beer comes in small glasses and keeps coming until you say stop. Order Muscheln rheinische Art in the cooler months, when mussels are steamed with white wine, onions and root vegetables and served with dark bread and butter; locals stick to months with an R in them.

Rhineland pub kitchens also turn out Himmel un Äd, black pudding with mashed potato and apple, and pork knuckle with sauerkraut, usually with a pot of strong local mustard on the table.

The old town is the place for breakfast and coffee. On the Münsterplatz, in the shadow of the minster, a gallery café lays on a home-made breakfast and lunch buffet, and the cake and coffee house in the 16th-century half-timbered building on Michaelstraße bakes everything in-house. For pasta, a long-running Italian on Rheinstraße serves a small salad and dessert with each main; book for dinner. Out in Norf-Derikum, Gasthaus Pütz is the classic country inn with large plates and themed menu days.

Late at night the crowd heads to the so-called döner triangle at the old bus station, three kebab shops facing each other that stay open long after the bars close.